Libyan factions agree on Dec 10 date for polls

Paris, 29 May (IANS/AKI) Libya's rival political forces have agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the turmoil-wracked North African country on December 10, United Nations backed Premier Fayez al-Sarraj's advisor tweeted on Tuesday.

Libya's rival governments in the east and west have also agreed to "finalise the constitutional basis for the elections" by September 16, added the tweet from Taher al-Sonni.

The accords were reached during a UN-backed conference in Paris at the Elysee - the French presidential palace - on Tuesday, according to Sonni.

Besides Sarraj, the powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, the speaker of the Tobruk parliament, Aqila Saleh, and Khalid al-Mishri, head of Libya's High Council of State advisory body, attended the meeting.

Representatives of Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, which have backed Haftar and the rival administration in Tobruk in the east, are also taking part in the conference, as well UN special envoy Ghassan Salame.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been a leading figure in the global efforts to pull Libya back from the brink of being a "failed state", hosted rival leaders to come to an agreement.

Top officials from the EU, including foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the African Union and the Arab League, were also at the meet.

--IANS/AKI

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